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The Ballet of Triangle Centers on the Elliptic Billiard

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The Ballet of Triangle Centers on the Elliptic Billiard Journal for Geometry and Graphics Volume 24 (2020), No. 1, 79–101. The Ballet of Triangle Centers on the Elliptic Billiard Dan S. Reznik1, Ronaldo Garcia2, Jair Koiller3 1Data Science Consulting Rio de Janeiro RJ 22210-080, Brazil email: [email protected] 2Instituto de Matemática e Estatística, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia GO, Brazil email: [email protected] 3Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora MG, Brazil email: [email protected] Abstract. We explore a bevy of new phenomena displayed by 3-periodics in the Elliptic Billiard, including (i) their dynamic geometry and (ii) the non-monotonic motion of certain Triangle Centers constrained to the Billiard boundary. Fasci- nating is the joint motion of certain pairs of centers, whose many stops-and-gos are akin to a Ballet. Key Words: elliptic billiard, periodic trajectories, triangle center, loci, dynamic geometry. MSC 2010: 51N20, 51M04, 51-04, 37-04 1. Introduction We investigate properties of the 1d family of 3-periodics in the Elliptic Billiard (EB). Being uniquely integrable [13], this object is the avis rara of planar Billiards. As a special case of Poncelet’s Porism [4], it is associated with a 1d family of N-periodics tangent to a con- focal Caustic and of constant perimeter [27]. Its plethora of mystifying properties has been extensively studied, see [26, 10] for recent treatments. Initially we explored the loci of Triangle Centers (TCs): e.g., the Incenter X1, Barycenter X2, Circumcenter X3, etc., see summary below. The Xi notation is after Kimberling’s Encyclopedia [14], where thousands of TCs are catalogued. Here we explore a bevy of curious behaviors displayed by the family of 3-periodics, roughly divided into two categories (with an intermezzo): 1. The shape of 3-periodics and/or TC loci: when are the former acute, obtuse, pythagorean, and the latter non-smooth, self-intersecting, non-compact? See for ex- ample this recent treatment of TCs at infinity [15]. ISSN 1433-8157/$ 2.50 c 2020 Heldermann Verlag 80 D. Reznik, R. Garcia, J. Koiller: The Ballet of Triangle Centers on the Elliptic Billiard 2. The kinematics of EB-railed TCs: a handful of TCs1 is known to lie on the EB. As the family of 3-periodics is traversed, what is the nature of their motion (monotonicity, critical points, etc.). We further examine the joint motion of two EB-railed TCs which in some cases resembles a Ballet. In the intermezzo we introduce (i) a deceptively simple construction under which the EB bugles out the Golden Ratio, and (ii) a triangle closely related to 3-periodics2, whose vertices are dynamically clutched onto the EB. Throughout the paper figures will sometimes include a hyperlink to an animation in the format [23, PL#nn], where nn is the entry into our video list on Table 5 in Section 5. Indeed, the beauty of most phenomena remain ellusive unless they are observed dynamically. Related Work Properties of the poristic triangle family, i.e., one with fixed incircle and circumcircle, were studied in [29, 31, 18], where the loci of many triangle centers is described. Indeed, we noticed poristic triangles are related to the 3-periodic family by a variable similarity transform, therefore sharing with it all scale-free invariants [7]. Regarding 3-periodics, two intriguing invariants are [24]: 1. The Mittenpunkt X9 is the black swan of all TCs: its locus is a point at the center of the EB3 [23, PL#01]. 2. The 3-periodic family conserves the ratio of Inradius-to-Circumradius. This implies the sum of its cosines is invariant. Suprisingly the latter holds for all N-periodics [1, 2]. Other observations focused on the surprising elliptic locus of many TCs: the locus of the Incenter X1 is an ellipse [25], as is that of the Excenters [6]. The latter is similar to a rotated locus of X1, see [23, PL#01,04]. Also elliptic are the loci of the Barycenter X2 [28], Circumcenter X3 [5], Orthocenter X4 [6], Center X5 of the Nine-Point Circle [8], see [23, PL#05,07]. Recently we showed that out of the first 100 Kimberling Centers in [14], exactly 29 produce elliptic loci [8]. This is quite unexpected given the non-linearities involved. Other observations, many which find parallels in Triangle Geometry, included (i) the locus 4 of the Feuerbach Point X11 is on the Caustic , as is that of the Extouchpoints, though these move in opposite directions; (ii) the locus of X100, the anticomplement of X11, is on the EB [9]; (iii) the locus of vertices of Intouch, Medial and Feuerbach Triangles are all non-elliptic. We still don’t understand how loci ellipticity or many of the phenomena below correlate to the Trilinears of a given TC. 2. First movement: shape Let the boundary of the EB be given by, a>b> 0: x 2 y 2 f(x, y)= + =1 (1) a b Below c2 = a2 b2, and δ = √a4 a2b2 + b4. − − 1 Some 50 out of 40 thousand in [14]. 2 The Contact (or Intouch) Triangle of the Anticomplementary Triangle (ACT). 3 In Triangle parlance, the EB is the “X9-Centered Circumellipse”. 4 The Inconic centered on the Mittenpunkt X9 which passes through the Extouchpoints is known as the Mandart Inellipse [30]. By definition, an Inconic is internally tangent to the sides, so it must be the Caustic. D. Reznik, R. Garcia, J. Koiller: The Ballet of Triangle Centers on the Elliptic Billiard 81 Figure 1: Let α4 = 2 √2 1 1.352 and H be the elliptic locus of X4 (orange), similar to a − ≃ rotated copy of the EBp (black). Top Left: a/b < α4, H is interior to the EB and all 3-periodics (blue) are acute. Bot Left: at a/b = α4, H is tangent to the top and bottom vertices of the EB. The 3-periodic shown is a right triangle since one vertex is at the upper EB vertex where X4 currently is. Right: at a/b > α4, the 3-periodic family will contain both acute and obtuse 3-periodics, corresponding to X4 interior (resp. exterior) to the EB. For any obtuse 3-periodic, X4 will lie within the wedge between sides incident upon the obtuse angle and exterior to the 3-periodic, i.e., exterior to the EB. For the particular aspect ratio shown (a/b = 1.51), H is identical to a 90◦-rotated copy of the EB. Throughout this paper we assume one vertex P1(t) = (x1,y1) of a 3-periodic is 5 parametrized as P1(t) = [a cos t, b sin t]. Explicit expressions for the locations of P2(t) and P3(t) under this specific parametrization are given in Appendix B. 2.1. Can 3-periodics be obtuse? Pythagorean? The locus of the Orthocenter X4 is an ellipse of axes a4, b4 similar to a rotated copy of the EB. These are given by [8]: 2 2 2 2 k4 k4 (a + b )δ 2 a b (a4, b4)= , , k4 = − a b c2 Referring to Figure 1, let α4 = 2 √2 1 1.352. p − ≃ Proposition 1. If a/b = α4, then b4 = b, i.e., the top and bottom vertices of the locus of X4 coincide with the EB’s top and bottom vertices. 5 Their coordinates involve double square roots on x1 so these points can be constructed by ruler and compass. 82 D. Reznik, R. Garcia, J. Koiller: The Ballet of Triangle Centers on the Elliptic Billiard 4 2 2 4 Proof. The equation b4 = b is equivalent to a +2a b 7b =0. Therefore, as a>b> 0, it − follows that a/b = 2 √2 1. − ∗ p 6 4 3 2 ∗ Let α4 be the positive root of x + x 4 x x 1=0, i.e., α4 = 1.51. − − − ≃ ∗ Proposition 2. When a/b = α4, then a4 = b and b4 = a, i.e., the locus of X4 is identical to a rotated copy of Billiard. 6 4 2 3 3 2 4 6 Proof. The condition a4 = b, or equivalently b4 = a, is defined by a +a b 4a b a b b = 6 4 3 2 − − − 0. Graphic analysis shows that x + x 4 x x 1=0 has only one positive real root ∗ − − − which we call α4. Theorem 1. If a/b < α4 (resp. a/b > α4) the 3-periodic family will not (resp. will) contain obtuse triangles. Proof. If the 3-periodic is acute, X4 is in its interior, therefore also internal to the EB. If the 3-periodic is a right triangle, X4 lies on the right-angle vertex and is therefore on the EB. If the 3-periodic is obtuse, X4 lies on exterior wedge between sides incident on the obtuse vertex (feet of altitudes are exterior). Since the latter is on the EB, X4 is exterior to the EB. 2.2. Can a locus be non-smooth? Loci considered thus far have been smooth, regular curves. Proposition 3. If a/b > α4 the locus of the Incenter of the 3-periodic’s Orthic Triangle comprises four arcs of ellipses, connected at four corners. 6 To see this, let T be a triangle, Th its Orthic , and Ih be the latter’s Incenter. It is well-known that if T is acute Ih coincides with T ’s Orthocenter X4. However, for obtuse T : Lemma 1. Th has two vertices outside of T , and Ih is “pinned” to the obtuse vertex. This is a known result [3, Chapter 1], which we revisit in Appendix A. This curious phenomenon is illustrated in Figure 2. Assume a/b > α4.
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